21. Juno

21

JUNO

Isaac gave the heavy crowbar an experimental swing.

“Do it,” Juno encouraged him.

He had already begun, his weapon making a dull whipping noise as it flew through the air. The TV didn’t stand a chance, a giant hole cracking and splintering as Isaac struck.

Juno did not feel guilty about flashing the pack credit card to get them a last minute booking at a rage room. It was nestled away in a quiet industrial-heavy suburb, just one warehouse amongst many others. The friendly staff had directed them to dress in white hazmat style jumpsuits and select their choice of protective headgear before leading them to a large, concrete-walled room filled with breakables. Their weapons of choice gleamed in an oil drum placed at the door.

You couldn’t put a price on catharsis.

Everett was throwing mugs for Julian to whack with a baseball bat.

“What the hell, why is your aim so good?” Everett asked, bewildered. He changed tack from his slow underhanded toss to a faster overhand throw. But Julian was quicker and the mug shattered in a spray of white porcelain.

“You think I have a future in batting mugs?” Julian asked eagerly.

Another perfect hit. “Seriously, have you done this before?”

“Wow, I gotta find a local mug batting league to join.”

Ollie waved his hands, getting Miles and Ari’s attention. “You guys, watch.”

He pretended to sit in a chair in front of an old boxy monitor. “What do you mean you’re not going to have the report on my desk in time?” he yelled angrily. He gave the top of the monitor a whack with his palm. “Do you know who I am? Get out of my office!” Ollie grabbed the monitor and threw it against the wall with all his might with a resounding roar.

Miles and Ari politely clapped for him like a discerning theatre audience. “Five stars. Riveting performance,” Ari commented dryly.

“Is that what you think Isaac is like at work?” Miles asked and Ollie held his finger to his lips in a shushing gesture.

Everett hugged her from behind and she giggled when their protective headgear knocked against each other. “Your turn,” he prompted, pressing more tightly against her butt as he pointed at a baseball bat.

“Hey Ev, I will give you $500 if you step away from Juno right this second and you don’t have a hint of a boner,” Miles called out.

“Oh!” Isaac casually took a place beside his bonded, watching them. “Make that $1000.”

Juno gave an experimental wiggle of her hips.

“Whose side are you on!” Everett hissed indignantly. Juno shrugged innocently and pulled his arms tighter around her. All while thinking about how attractive she found her big, grumpy alpha until her scent perfumed sugar-sweet between them.

“We’re waiting,” Miles said, tapping his foot. “This amazing, once-in-a-lifetime deal is going to expire in 3…2…”

“You both know I can’t!” Everett yelled.

Isaac and Miles exchanged a funny little victory handshake and Juno almost died from how cute she found it.

“You’re going to pay for that, trouble,” Everett growled.

“Oh no,” she sighed without a shred of remorse.

They continued to enjoy whacking and breaking all sorts of items — plates, glassware, small furniture items and ancient technology. At one point Ollie elbowed her and pointed out Ari and Julian in the corner.

Instead of raging like the others, they were working on building a pyramid of carefully balanced bottles.

“I don’t want to break this, it’s so beautiful,” Ari admitted.

“I know, me too!” Julian said brightly.

Ollie bit his lip. “I want to break it so bad. It’s calling me,” he said in despair.

Juno turned him so he didn’t have to watch. “Shh, come throw these plates instead.”

Isaac was eying off the human shaped boxing dummy. Juno could almost hear spaghetti western music playing as he stared it down. The cry of an eagle and rustle of a tumbleweed rolling by.

The crowbar was a blur as he swung it violently. The hook lodged itself right in the middle of the dummy’s forehead, so deep that Isaac couldn’t remove it.

“Ok,” he sighed. “I feel better now.”

They found themselves at a pub after, ordering parmas larger than their heads as they all squashed into a leather corner booth together.

Juno was getting sleepy after her second beer and sank down contently in the plush seat. She looked around at her pack, satisfied by the closeness she felt in all her bonds. Everett and Ari were deep in a serious conversation about…Juno leaned forward to hear better…how they would survive in a zombie apocalypse.

“Mate, we can’t get down to the nitty gritty until we decide if it’s the slow walking braaains zombies or the fast as fuck ones that practically fly at you,” Ari was saying insistently.

“Regardless, your immediate priorities would be the same,” Everett reasoned.

“They would not be the same,” Ari disagreed vehemently. “Come on Ev, if we don’t have the proper ground rules, we may as well not even discuss this.”

They were not going to be done any time soon.

Juno glanced over at Ollie, Julian and Miles playing darts. Julian held one up with a questioning look her way. She shook her head with a smile.

Isaac sat down beside her, placing a glass of water on the table and giving her a nudge. “Are you really alright?” he asked her quietly.

Juno sipped her water obediently. “Do I wish he didn’t have the videos? Of course. I wish they never existed in the first place. But yes, Isaac, I’m all right. Promise.”

The back of Isaac’s hand was touching the outside of her thigh under the table. Juno wondered if he was aware of the light, caressing motions he was making. Back and forth, soothing her.

He suddenly went still.

“Juno. We have to go.”

She followed his gaze across the room, landing on a group of young men huddled together near the bar. Slightly rowdy, likely several pints deep, a boys night on the town.

Except they were all alphas. Talking urgently amongst themselves.

Pointing at their necks.

Looking at her.

Her decision to tattoo over Pack Zhao’s bondmarks suddenly seemed incredibly stupid. She may as well have been holding up a neon sign saying “I PARTICIPATED IN A VERY DIVISIVE CLINICAL TRIAL”.

Juno couldn’t hold back the whine escaping her throat.

Isaac had already gotten Everett and Ari’s attention, motioning at them to warn the others. His hand slipped into hers as he helped her out of the booth.

“Omega bitch,” one of them coughed once they were within earshot.

“No, don’t,” Juno hissed, pulling Everett back as he made a move to defend her. “Let’s just get out of here, please.”

It was another night with all of them in her nest. Despite the rolling purrs surrounding her, Juno spent a lot of it awake.

She didn’t want to live like this. Constantly looking over her shoulder, not able to attend classes or even just get a fucking drink with her pack.

What am I supposed to do?